The US delegation’s deliberate go to to Greenland — led by Vice President JD Vance and second girl Usha Vance — has captured the creativeness of high political officers and tech billionaires alike, whilst Prime Minister Mute Egede slammed the journey as being “highly aggressive.”
Whereas current pleasure concerning the huge, frigid island has puzzled me, Silicon Valley sources (who take credit score for the thought of shopping for Greenland) view it as deeply tied to America’s ambitions in area and data expertise — particularly regarding AI. Additionally they see it as a essential “play for the future,” as one supply put it.
Notable tech figures have proven various levels of help. Elon Musk is all for buying Greenland and Peter Thiel backs the thought of building an autonomous colony on the island. Jeff Bezos and Invoice Gates have advocated for mining initiatives due to the wealth of pure sources, like uncommon earth minerals, essential for high-tech manufacturing.
“Take what’s needed for the US to maintain information technology dominance: data storage and computing power deployment,” Tom Dans, former commissioner of the US Arctic Analysis Fee, advised me. “Greenland offers abundant potential energy, strategic metals and minerals, and proximity to key US population centers — all in a highly controllable environment.”
It’s roughly 1,800 miles from New York Metropolis to the capital of Nuuk, the place freezing temperatures supply a hospitable local weather for energy-intensive knowledge facilities. The island’s isolation reduces bodily safety dangers confronted by mainland US knowledge vegetation.
“Greenland’s strategic importance to the United States goes beyond its frozen landscape … far into space. President Trump gets this. Elon understands it better than anyone,” Dans provides. “Telemetry, tracking, missile intercepts, early warning systems and Northern latitude launch sites are all part of America’s Arctic past, present and future. Greenland is key.”
The Arctic location is also strategic for navy protection and surveillance — which is partly why Chinese language corporations search a foothold, too.
Whereas the thought of annexation gained traction in Silicon Valley practically a decade in the past — partly from startups like Thiel-backed Praxis, which goals to construct a futuristic, autonomous metropolis in Greenland — since then the imaginative and prescient has expanded.
Sources word that the Danish territory’s proximity to the Arctic Circle additionally affords a really perfect trajectory for polar orbits, offering a transparent path for area launches that avoids densely populated areas — not like Florida or Texas, the place security and airspace restrictions complicate operations.
Its huge, uninhabited expanses and secure local weather additionally decrease climate delays and land-use conflicts, making it a doubtlessly superior US spaceport website.
And tech’s position in preserving the dream of Greenland alive is mirrored in President Trump’s choose for ambassador to Denmark: Ken Howery, a “PayPal Mafia” member who co-founded Founders Fund with Peter Thiel and is a buddy of Elon Musk. He’s nonetheless awaiting affirmation however, in Trump’s first time period, Howery served as ambassador to Sweden — gaining perception into the Arctic Circle’s safety and geopolitical significance.
After all, Greenland’s PM Muté Egede has mentioned, “We don’t want to be Americans” and there’s no indication that Denmark would comply with any type of deal.
And there are main points with the land itself as effectively. Chilly Conflict-era chemical waste, together with diesel gas and radioactive supplies buried by the US navy beneath melting ice, might complicate growth.
Nonetheless, Individuals will broaden their presence in Greenland additional this summer season when United Airways launches direct flights between New York and Nuuk.
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Fittingly, the primary flight takes off June 14 — Flag Day and Donald Trump’s birthday.
Yet another Silicon Valley supply advised me {that a} attainable American acquisition is “the best thing that could happen to Greenland and its residents. You could either get access to all the resources of the United States or remain a small, isolated island.”
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